Railway postal car.



P. KENNEDY. RAILWAY POSTAL GA R. APPLIOATION FILED unmza, 1907.

924,165. Patented June 8, 1909.

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P. KENNEDY. RAILWAY POSTAL GAB.

APPLICATION TIL ED MAR. 28,1907. 924,165. Patented June 8, 1909.

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PATRICK KENNEDY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGN OR TO CONSOLIDATED RAILWAY ELECTRIC LIGHTING AND EQUIPMENT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

RAILWAY POSTAL CAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 8, 1909.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, PATRICK KENNEDY, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Postal Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of the invention is to provide a railway postal car having a convenient, safe and efficient interior lighting arrangement.

The particular nature of the improvements will be understood from a consideration of the following description and the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section of a postal car body equipped with the improved fixtures; Fig. 2 is a plan view of a somewhat diagrammatic nature and taken on a line just above the reflectors in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a transverse section on an enlarged scale of the upper portion of the car, and taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Figs. 4 and 5 are detailed views of a lamp unit and suspend ing mechanism, and Figs. 6 and 7 are detailed views of a reflector and suspending mechanism.

The car body is of the standard form adopted for railway postal cars, and is equipped with the customary letter distributing boxes a, bag racks b, distributing tables 0 and deck boxes d.

Suspended from the lower deck of the car and above the letter distributing boxes and letter-bag racks is anarmored conduit 6 from which are suspended at appropriate intervals a series of electric lamps f, beneath an elongated reflector g in U-shape, as shown, and which is also suspended from the armored conduit. This reflector serves to concentrate and uniformly distribute the light upon the letter distributing boxes, the letter-bag racks and the distributing tables.

Above the second-class distributing tables and slightly to one side of the center line of the car, a second armored conduit 6' is suspended from the ceiling of the car by hangers 7t and by side braces h from the lower edge of the clear-story, in the manner of the ordinary safety bar. Suspended from this conduit at suitable intervals are a series of electric lamps f, and the elongated reflector g which concentrates and uniformly distributes the light upon the second-class distributing tables and bag-racks and the lower portions of the deck boxes. In addition to this specialized and localized illuminating system for the postal fixtures, the car may be equipped with a main lighting system for general illuminating purposes, the lamps of which are suspended considerably above the level of the reflectors g and g, as indicated at r on Fig. 3.

The particular manner of suspending the lamps and reflectors from the armored conduits will be understood by referring to Figs. 4 to 7 inclusive, in connection with the other figures. From Figs. 4c and 5 it will be observed that each lamp socket is provided with a split sleeve m, m, by which the socket is clamped on to the armored conduit. The upper end of the lamp socket screws into a screw-threaded tubular extension m on the part m, which registers with a corresponding opening in the conduit as shown. The part m has four laterally extending ears m which are clamped to corresponding ears m on member m by the bolts m This affords a simple and efflcient clamping arrangement, and one of such character that it gives an extended clamping surface with the fewest possible number of parts. It will also be observed from Fig. 4 that the lower end of the lamp socket fits within an appropriate opening in the reflector.

The manner of suspending the reflector will be understood from an examination of Figs. 6 and 7, from which it will be observed that supporting strips 91. are riveted to the upper surface of the reflector and are bent up into vertical positions in contact with one another. These vertical portions are clamped between the two parts a and n of a split sleeve by the single bolt a and the two parts of the split sleeve are bolted together above the armored conduit 6 by the two bolts 12*. This arrangement also affords an extended clamping surface by which the reflector may be securely fixed in the desired position, and the separation of the parts of the clamping collar from the upright portions of the strips 11, serves to avoid any complexity of parts or the necessity of springing out the upwardly extending parts of the strips, which is likely to result in a bending of the reflector and even a cracking of the enamel which is provided on the un der surface thereof.

From an examination of Fig. 3 it will be seen that the safety rod D is supported on the other side or" the car from the elongated reflector g, and substantially in the same manner. Indeed, the armored conduit which supports the elongated reflector g" is put in the exact position of one of the ordinary safety bars, namely, that safety bar which is directly above the distributing tables and so is of little or no use for its intended funo tion. As a result of the relatively low position of the reflectors, of the assemblage of a series of lamps under a single reflector, and of the particular shape and arrangement of the reflectors the light is concentrated upon the desired points and there is nothing between the reflectors and the object to be lighted to distort and intercept the light rays, and furthermore, this concentration and grouping of the lights prevents interference between the rays of the different lamps of the auxiliary system, and the lamps of the main system, and adds greatly to the ei'iiciency of the lighting arrangement.

What I claim is 1. In a railway postal car, an armored conduit, hung beneath the clear story across one end and along a portion of each side of the car above the letter-distributing boxes and tables, an elongated U-shaped reflector suspended from said conduit, and a plurality of electric lamps suspended from said conduit in proper position beneath said refiector, whereby the light from said lamps is concentrated and uniformly distributed on the distributing boxes and tables; substantially as described.

2. In a railway postal car, a safety-bar suspended at one side of the center line of the car, an armored conduit suspended at about the same level on the other side of the center line of the car and above the secondclass distributing-tables and bag-racks, an elongated reflector suspended from said. armored conduit, and a plurality of electric lamps suspended from said conduit in proper position beneath said reflector, whereby the l l l i l l l l l light from said lamps is concentrated and uniformly distributed upon the second-class distributing-boxes, ba -racks and tables without interference from the safety-bar and other attachments within and slightly below the clear story; substantially as described.

In a railway postal car, an armored conduit suspended from the upper portion of the car, a plurality of split sleeves adapted to clamp the conduit, an elongated retlector having a plurality of upright members adapted to tit between and be engaged by the lower portions of said split sleeves, and a plurality of electric lamps suspended from said conduit in proper position beneath said reflector; substantially as described.

at. In a railway postal car, an armored conduit suspended from the upper portion thereof. an elongated reflector suspended from said conduit, a plurality of split sleeves adapted to engage said conduit, a plurality of electric lamps adapted to engage the lower portions of said split sleeves and to be suspended thereby in proper position to meet the reflector; substantially as described.

In a railway postal car, an armored conduit suspended from the upper portion thereof, a plurality of split sleeves a, if, provided at their upper portions with the clamping bolts 11* and at their lower portions with the clamping bolts 12., an armored conduit provided with the upwardly extending stiffening pieces 72 adapted to lit between the lower portions of the split sleeves and to be held in place by the bolts a, a second set of split sleeves m, 171/, provided with the ears 1n and m and the clamping bolts m" and with the tubular screw-tlne:uled projection m and a plurality of electric lamps having sockets which are adapted to engage said screw-threaded projections m and to be suspended thereby beneath the reflectors; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

PATRICK KENNEDY. lVitnesses AUG. TREADWELL, ILLIAM H. DAVIS. 

